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Education Governance: Next Steps - Empowering Our Teachers, Parents and Communities to Deliver Excellence and Equity for Our Children

The SSTA supports the Government’s determination to bring about improvements in Education by ‘closing the attainment gap’ and giving all young people the opportunity to fulfil their potential. However, the SSTA has argued for a process of review followed by improvements rather than major structural change.

The Government has chosen to use its ‘Governance Review’ as the vehicle to look at the agencies and structures involved in education, but not the structures inside the school that support teaching and learning. Structure is only important insofar as it supports and nurtures teaching and learning in the pupil/teacher relationship.

Seamus Searson, SSTA General Secretary said “The SSTA expected the review to identify the following:

A national body to develop teaching materials, resources and strategies to support teachers develop learning in secondary schools. This would prevent the duplication that takes place in every secondary school in Scotland.
A review of school management structures that recognises and values the importance of subject specialism and focuses management on teaching and learning.
Support systems provided by the Local Authority to remove tasks that do not require the skills and expertise of leaders of teaching and learning.
Address the deepening crisis in retaining and recruiting teachers and headteachers in its schools. The Scottish Government needs to acknowledge that teachers working conditions and remuneration have failed to keep pace with the rapidly changing education environment. An urgent need for investment.
Reject further delegation of responsibilities and funding to headteachers in schools as this will only worsen the headteacher recruitment crisis. Headteachers want to focus on leading learning and do not need to be forced into spending more time on bureaucracy and administration.
The importance of Local Authority in managing the education system. The Local Authorities have the ability to bring together all local services to support pupils and their families in their journey through school. The Local Authority should play an important part in removing burdens and obstacles from teachers and headteachers and allow them to exert all their energies on learning.
The need for Local Authorities to collaborate across Authority boundaries to ensure there are a sufficient number of teachers, headteachers and supply teachers in our schools. Good examples of collaboration would be a national supply teacher register, a joint recruitment strategy, developing leadership programmes, and a national professional development network for all education staff.
The Inspectorate to focus its efforts upon Local Authorities. The Local Authorities should be the driving force for excellence in schools for all young people. The Inspectorate should seek naturally occurring evidence in the schools to support the work of the Local Authorities”.

“The SSTA accepts that ‘Education Governance: Next Steps’ has addressed many of these expectations but there are a number of areas that may have unintended consequences. Initial concerns are

Further delegation to schools and headteachers may lead to a worsening of the headteacher recruitment crisis.
The devolving of powers to schools should lead to a different dynamic in the running of the schools. The involvement of the school staff in the direction and decision making of the school will need to be developed.
The measures to reduce the leadership role of local authorities in delivering education could remove the schools safety blanket and vital support systems.
The introduction of regional bodies will assist some strategic issues but underestimates the difficulty in bringing together very different schools and local authorities. This may lead to another layer of bureaucracy and potential conflict.
The proposals to involve parents in the managing of the schools assumes that this is a role to which they aspire. It is currently difficult to get parents involved in schools whereas the focus must be on parents being in partnership with the school to support their children’s learning.

Seamus Searson added “The SSTA will be looking thoroughly at the document in the coming months to ensure the proposals meet the test of improving education. But one important ingredient missing from the proposals is the large Government investment needed to bring about this change. This next step will fall on hard ground as this cannot be delivered by moving the existing education resource around.”

Further Information from

Seamus Searson
General Secretary

0131 313 7300

16 June 2017

SSTA 73rd Annual Congress

The Association's 73rd Annual Congress will take place on Friday 19th & Saturday 20th May 2017 at Crieff Hydro. You can find the Congress Agenda with includes the motions to be debated at https://ssta.org.uk/congress-2017/

Updates from Congress will be posted on the SSTA website and via social media using hashtag #SSTA17. Video of the Presidential Address, Report of the General Secretary, Key Note Speech and debates will be posted on the SSTA website when they become available.

Congress / Information for Members - 05/12/2017

SSTA Guidance ‘Action Short of Strike Action’ - Phase 4

SSTA Guidance - Action Short of Strike Action Phase 4 - March 2017

SSTA members are continuing to take industrial action to reduce teacher workload and two new initiatives are being introduced into Secondary Schools alongside the SQA changes at National 5. These initiatives have not been included in School Improvement Plans or Working Time Agreements for 2016–2017 sessions.

SSTA is reminding members that new initiatives must have time assigned for the tasks to be undertaken.

SQA changes to National 5 were announced on 31 January following the removal of units. These changes included the extension of the existing question paper, new question paper and a new item of coursework.

The course materials are to be published in April 2017 with specimen papers and coursework in August 2017. The SSTA published a survey of members that highlighted increased workload for pupils and teachers.

SSTA Advice

Members need to ensure that time to review the changes and prepare for the new courses is allocated within this years Working Time Agreement and other duties are set aside
Any teacher asked to prepare materials or consult with staff should decline the request until adequate time is given by the Headteacher

Benchmarks are being prepared by Education Scotland for publication by the end of March. The Benchmarks will have opening text on their effective use in promoting more holistic assessment (and will set out some do’s and don’ts).

Education Scotland are to produce exemplification to support the dissemination and introduction of the Benchmarks. The exemplification will highlight how some teachers have streamlined and simplified planning and assessment though using Es and Os and Benchmarks, and how this has impacted on improving learning and helping to reduce workload.

Education Scotland is looking to the possibility of providing guidance and support to local authorities and schools through ‘Understanding Standards’ approaches to help local authorities and their schools look at how best to introduce curriculum area Benchmarks.

SSTA Advice

No work should be undertaken on Benchmarks until all the materials have been produced by Education Scotland and suitable training events have been arranged.
Any teacher asked to prepare materials or consult with staff should decline the request until adequate time is given by the Headteacher.

National Standardised Assessments (NSA) are to be statutory in school year 2017-2018 in P1, P4, P7 and S3. The Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) has been awarded the contract for the computerised assessments that are to be available for all pupils.

Scholar and TWIG have been assigned for the training of teachers in the administration of the assessments and making using of the data in supporting teacher’s professional judgement. Materials for teachers are to be produced by August 2017, online, webinars, face to face, etc.

SSTA Advice

No work should be undertaken on National Standardised Assessments until all the materials have been produced and suitable training events have been arranged
Any teacher asked to prepare materials or consult with staff should decline the request until adequate time is given by the Headteacher.
S3 Teachers given responsibility for the assessments need to ensure that additional time is allocated to carry-out the tasks in the 2017-2018 session

Guidance to School Representatives

School Improvement Plans and Working Time Agreements

Schools must review the existing Working Time Agreement to allocate time to review the changes and prepare for the new National 5 courses. This must be a priority for all Secondary Schools in the short term.
Schools are developing their School Improvement Plan (SIP) for 2017-2018 at the moment and then will be engaging on the schools Working Time Agreements. It is vitally important that the following are included and sufficient time allocated

SQA National 5 changes
Bench Marks
National Standardised Assessments

It is the SSTA view that these items are more than enough for any SIP and any other items should be deferred to the following year. The SSTA will be engaging with the Education Minister and HMIe to ensure that schools are not penalised for controlling teacher workload.

SSTA Guidance - Action Short of Strike Action Phase 4 - March 2017

Curriculum for Excellence / Information for Members - 03/27/2017

SSTA Guidance - Action Short of Strike Action - Phase 3

SSTA Guidance - Action Short of Strike Action Phase 3 - March 2017

SQA Payments for Marking Coursework in Technical and Computing Studies Courses

SSTA members are continuing to take industrial action to reduce teacher workload and SSTA wishes to support members by clarify the situation regarding the proposal ‘SQA Payments for Marking Coursework in Technical and Computing Studies Courses’.

The Marking of coursework in Technical and Computing Studies Courses is an issue SSTA has raised on a number of occasions in relation to the ‘unfairness’ of additional responsibility passed to teachers who teach these courses.

The SQA confirmed the following arrangements for this year:

“That for certain National Qualifications, payments will be made to teachers who are required to assess students’ work as part of the coursework arrangements. As you will be aware the decision to make these payments was agreed at national level and is expected to be a temporary requirement pending the Revision of the assessment arrangements for National Qualifications.

Given the tight timescales, SQA suggested to implement a process that was put in place to allow payment of teachers for undertaking assessment duties under the previous Standard Grade examination arrangements. SQA has been in communication with members of the ADES (Association of Directors of Education Scotland) Resources Network since late October last year, and they have indicated their agreement to SQA’s proposal to resurrect that process.

The forms and guidance associated with that process have been updated and schools will download the necessary form from SQA’s website. The head of department or teacher responsible for the course(s) concerned, will complete the information required on the form, and then submit to the Local Authority to process the authorised payments to the Teachers through the normal payroll procedure” (highlighted by SSTA)

SSTA view
The SQA is unable to require teachers to undertake this task as SQA is not the employer. These arrangements were not agreed through the SNCT and ADES has no power to negotiate on behalf of teachers.

Most importantly, teachers are not ‘required’ by the duties specified by SNCT Handbook of Conditions of Service (see Appendix below).

SSTA advice

Any member who wishes to decline this task even if sufficient time or payment provided will be fully supported by the Association
It is important that the member informs the Headteacher of their intention at the earliest opportunity

SSTA advice to teachers who voluntarily undertake this task

Should seek sufficient time within the school day to perform this function
The work normally undertaken during this time should be undertaken by the person allocated this duty (this includes preparation and correction of work)
A supply teacher should be engaged to undertake this work. It is not a reasonable request for other colleagues in the school to undertake such duties
If a teacher agrees to be paid for undertaking such a task outside of school hours the appropriate payment as specified within the SNCT Conditions of Service handbook (see below) should be made

Appendix - Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT)

SNCT is a tripartite body comprising members from teaching organisations, Local Authorities, and the Scottish Government

The Pay and Conditions of Service for teachers and associated professionals employed by Scottish Councils is set out in the SNCT Handbook of Conditions of Service (Extracts below)

PART 2: SECTION 1 - PAY

1.8 The daily rate of pay for teachers and music instructors will be 1/235(1) of the annual rate of salary. The hourly rate of pay will be calculated on the basis of 1/1645(2) of the annual rate of salary.

Footnotes: (1) 235 days = 195 working days + 40 days annual leave
(2) 1645 hours = 235 days x 7 hours

PART 2: SECTION 2 - MAIN DUTIES

2.5 The duties of all teachers should be undertaken with due regard to workload and contractual obligations in order to allow them time to focus on their core role as leaders of learning.

2.6 Teachers will not be expected to undertake the duties generally undertaken by administrative and support staff

Teachers / Chartered Teachers

2.8 Subject to the policies and practice of the school and the Council, the duties of teachers are to:
a)   manage and organise classes through planning and preparing for teaching and learning.
b)   assess, record and report on the work of pupils’ progress to inform a range of teaching and learning approaches
c)   prepare pupils for examinations and where required, assist with their administration.
d)   contribute towards good order and the wider needs of the school
e)   develop the school curriculum
f)   contribute to the school and council planning and improvement processes.
g)   maintain and develop knowledge and skills and contribute to the professional development of colleagues including probationary and student teachers.

SSTA Guidance - Action Short of Strike Action Phase 3 - March 2017

Curriculum for Excellence / Information for Members - 03/22/2017

General Secretary Report - March 2017

‘Put pupils first – give teachers time to teach!’

Members are being advised to work within the contracted 35 hour working week and focus on teaching and learning. Additional guidance is to be issued on School Improvement Plans, Working Time Agreements, Pastoral Support and Posts of Responsibility.

Current guidance and presentations are available at www.ssta.org.uk

Teachers Pay Claim 2017

The Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers (SNCT) has submitted a pay claim for 2017 and discussions are to continue with the Government and Employers.

The SNCT claim includes

an uplift to meet the decline in ‘real’ value in teacher salaries since 2003 and bring Scottish Teachers into line with average teachers' salaries across the OECD
the importance of reward at the top point of the main grade scale in the retention and recruitment of teachers particularly following the removal of the Chartered Teachers scale and the decline in career opportunities
the restoration of pay of short-term supply teachers
a reduction of class contact time and a reduction in class sizes to control teacher workload.

Assessment and National Qualifications working group

National 5 – published 31 January

January 2017 – Implications of removal of unit assessments from Nat 5 course

extension of the existing question paper
extension/modification of the existing item of coursework
a new question paper
a new item of coursework

April 2017 – course materials

August 2017 – specimen papers and coursework

Extending grade D to 40% being considered
Nat 5 ‘free-standing’ units ONLY
Confusion in schools and need for a clear statement to schools

SSTA Survey on National 5 changes

Within the first 48 hours 837 members had responded
Highlighted a concern that the new arrangements may increase teacher workload
Need to assess the impact upon student’s workload, and time for teachers to implement
SSTA delayed publishing the returns to allow time for discussions between the SQA and Government officials
The survey was broken down by subject and changes to the elements within the course. The results to be published shortly

Education Scotland

Bench Marks

being prepared by Education Scotland for publication
Benchmarks launched by the end of March
The Benchmarks will have opening text on their effective use in promoting more holistic assessment (and will set out some do’s and don’ts)
exemplification to support the dissemination and introduction of the Benchmarks
The exemplification will highlight how some teachers have streamlined and simplified planning and assessment though using Es and Os and Benchmarks, and how this has impacted on improving learning and helping to reduce workload
Possibility of providing guidance and support to local authorities and schools through ‘Understanding Standards’ approach to help local authorities and their schools look at how best to introduce curriculum area Benchmarks.

Teacher Workload

Local authority ‘good practice’ is to be published on the Education Scotland website following discussions with trade unions

Four identified areas below

Continuous profiling and reporting – primary schools
Simplification of paperwork
Team Around the Child Model
Tracking, monitoring and reporting in the primary sector

National Standardised Assessments (NSA)

Statutory in school year 2017 - 2018 in P1, P4, P7 and S3
Australian Council for Education Research (ACER) the contractor
Assessments are to be available for all students
All platforms will work together seamless with SEEMIS and Glow
Scholar for training (administration and using the data) – materials for teachers by August 2017, online, webinars, face to face, etc
TWIG develop a video to fit in with teacher judgment and a help desk
Wide engagement with stakeholders, teachers, parents and local authorities

Implementation of NSA 2016-2017

5 LAs volunteered – Glasgow, Fife, Stirling, Western Isles and South Lanarkshire (100 schools in total)
A trial not a pilot, not a final version of the assessment
35 - 40 mins but no more than 50 mins to take place after February break (P1, P3, P7 and S3)
Discussions on S3 Assessments and impact upon the existing tracking and monitoring practices and should be replacing not an addition

International Council of Education Advisers

27 -28 February - Advice to FM and DFM
Focus – ‘closing the gap’ and collaborative working
Meeting with children’s cabinet, child poverty advisor
No engagement with Trade Unions

Innovative Routes to Teaching

STEM 1 - Combined PGDE and Induction Year - Probation and master degree in 2 years. Registration achieved in 9 months.
STEM 2 – Combined PGDE and probation in 1 year. Based in schools and paid standard salary during the year.
Concurrent Degrees for Secondary Education – physics and chemistry. To be extended to Technology.
Primary Specialism/Transitions 1 - subject specialism and Maths P6 to S3
Primary Specialism/Transitions 2 – additional subject specialism literacy, numeracy, ASN and STEM
Local Authority Employees into teaching - STEM subjects
Newly Qualified Teachers from Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland - undertake Masters degree whilst working in partner local authority
Returners to Teaching – out of the classroom who never taught in Scotland
Two Year Masters – Transformative Learning and Teaching MSc that allows ability to teach in the primary/secondary sectors

Empowering teachers, parents and communities to achieve excellence and equity in education: A Governance Review – consultation closed 6 January

Governance Review - 1100 responses, 700 individuals at events, timing of White Paper to be determined
Focus on supporting decision making in schools, empowering teachers, parents and communities, strengthening ‘the middle’ (clusters, education regions), national framework and professional capacity, fair funding and accountability
SSTA response https://ssta.org.uk/ssta-response-governance-review/

7^th International Summit on the Teaching Profession 29-31 March 2017 in Edinburgh

An Education International (EI) /OECD event hosted by the Scottish and UK Governments.
Invitations made to the top 25 countries in the OECD with a joint teacher union and government presentations.
Pre-summit activities - School visits being arranged (29^th)
Opening public session (30^th am)
a) What do teachers need in terms of professional learning and development, now and in the future, to support their work?
What can governments, and unions do to ensure we have the right national structures and policy environment to support this?
Striving for Sustainable Excellence & Equity in Learning

Increase in General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) Fees

SSTA meet with the GTCS following the announcement of an increase in fees from £50 to £65 in January and asked that

the GTCS should reconsider its decision to increase the fee and show solidarity with its members and work within the current fee of £50
the GTCS should focus on its essential role of registration and accrediting teacher programmes.
should the GTCS sees itself as an agency that carries out functions that should be undertaken by the Government and/or the Employers then those bodies should be expected to meet the additional costs and not the GTCS members.

Scottish Trades Union Council (STUC) – General Council

Annual Congress - Aviemore 24 -26 April 2017

Guest speakers to include: First Minister, Labour Party, ICTU, TUC, Wales TUC and an International speaker due to the implications for Brexit.

Union Modernisation Fund

Funding up to March 2017 approved. Awaiting new funding from April

Organising for Fair Work & Trade Union Fair Work and Modernisation Fund

24 March 2017 at the STUC Centre Glasgow, 12.00 noon

Trade Union Act Briefing Session (Thompsons)

Thursday 23 March 2017, Glasgow 30pm

Stand up to Racism – Scotland

· Stand up to Racism march/rally on 18 March 2017.

· Meet 11am, Holland St, Glasgow http://www.standuptoracism.org.uk

SSTA Forthcoming Events

Health and Safety and Senior Management Training – Friday 12 May, Stirling

SSTA 2017 Congress Friday 19 and Saturday 20 May, Crieff

District Secretaries Training early September 2017 to be confirmed

School Representative Training – to be delivered locally details to be circulated

Information for Members - 03/16/2017

SPPA Circular 2017/03 - Summer Retirals

Please see the link to the SPPA circular 2017/03 issued Wednesday 15 March 2017.

The purpose of this circular is to:

highlight the timescales for submission of summer retiral applications
clarify process for late applications
confirm the information required
highlight facility for accepting electronic submission of applications
direct requests for benefit estimates to My Pension online service

Information for Members / Pensions - 03/16/2017

Letter to Deputy First Minister

The SSTA wrote to John Swinney, Deputy First Minister, on Thursday 9 March 2017 asking for an urgent review of the changes to National 5 Qualifications introduced by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and intended for implementation in 2017-2018 session.

A copy of the letter is available to view below.

Information for Members - 03/14/2017

SSTA Newsletter - February 2017

A newsletter containing updates on the Teachers Pay Claim 2017, SSTA Survey on National Qualifications Changes and the Increase in GTCs Fees is available for members to download using the link below.

February 2017 newsletter

Information for Members - 02/17/2017

Vice-President Election 2017-19

The result of the Vice President Election for 2017 - 2019

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I would like to congratulate John Guidi on his election and offer him all the best wishes during his term of office.

Seamus Searson
General Secretary

The scrutineers report is available from SSTA HQ on request.

Information for Members - 02/08/2017

Interview with SSTA President on Newstalk Ireland radio

Please find below an interview with our President Euan Duncan on Newstalk Ireland radio discussing Curriculum for Excellence and National Qualifications.